Cookie Policy

1. Introduction to Cookies on HeyMariner

Welcome to the HeyMariner Cookie Policy. HeyMariner (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the maritime intelligence platform available at heymariner.com. This Cookie Policy explains in detail how and why we use cookies and similar tracking technologies across all pages, features, and tools on the HeyMariner platform.

HeyMariner launched on July 1, 2026 and is built to serve a community of maritime professionals — including Master Mariners, Chief Engineers, deck and engine officers, maritime lawyers, port operators, shipping companies, and maritime students — with real-time vessel intelligence, AIS tracking, port databases, regulatory reference tools, NAVAREA warnings, maritime calculators, and editorial content authored by our team of nine Master Mariners, five Chief Engineers, seventeen officers, thirteen engineers, and many volunteer contributors worldwide.

Because our platform is rich in interactive and personalised features — including saved vessel watchlists, persistent chart preferences, NAVAREA alert subscriptions, and calculator configurations — cookies play an important operational role in delivering a coherent, consistent experience across your sessions. Without cookies, many of the features that make HeyMariner useful for maritime professionals would not function correctly.

This policy is intended to be read alongside our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service, which together constitute the complete framework governing your relationship with HeyMariner. This Cookie Policy specifically governs our use of cookies, web beacons, local storage, session storage, pixel tags, and similar client-side tracking technologies.

We are committed to transparency about the cookies we use. When you first visit HeyMariner, a cookie consent banner is displayed, giving you the ability to accept all cookies, accept only strictly necessary cookies, or customise your preferences by category. Your choices are saved in a persistent consent cookie so you are not asked again on every visit. You can revisit your preferences at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in the footer of any page on our platform.

By continuing to use HeyMariner after being presented with the cookie consent banner, and by accepting any category of cookies, you consent to the use of those cookies in accordance with this policy. You remain free to revoke consent or adjust your preferences at any time, and doing so will not affect the lawfulness of any processing that occurred prior to withdrawal.

2. What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small text file — typically a few kilobytes in size — that a web server instructs your browser to store on your device (computer, tablet, or smartphone) when you visit a website. The file contains a small amount of data, usually a unique identifier string. On subsequent visits or page loads, your browser automatically sends the cookie back to the originating server, allowing the server to recognise your device and recall information associated with your previous session.

Cookies were introduced in 1994 as a mechanism for HTTP-based web applications — which are inherently stateless — to maintain state across requests. Without cookies or equivalent mechanisms, a website would be unable to distinguish between two consecutive page requests from the same person; you would effectively be treated as a brand-new anonymous visitor on every single page load. For a maritime intelligence platform like HeyMariner, where users need to be logged in across multiple feature areas, maintain watchlists, and carry navigation preferences from one tool to another, the absence of session cookies would make the platform essentially non-functional.

Cookies work at the domain level. A cookie set by heymariner.com can only be read by pages served from that domain unless specific cross-origin configurations apply. Third-party cookies, discussed in detail in Section 4 below, are set by domains other than the one you are currently visiting — typically social networks, analytics platforms, or advertising networks — when those services load resources (such as scripts or images) embedded within our pages.

Cookie Attributes

Each cookie carries a number of technical attributes that govern its behaviour:

• Name and Value: the identifier key and the data payload of the cookie (e.g., a session token or a preference code).
• Domain: the domain(s) for which the cookie is valid. Cookies may be scoped to a specific subdomain or to the entire top-level domain.
• Path: restricts the cookie to a specific URL path on the domain (e.g., /vessels/ only).
• Expiry / Max-Age: the date and time at which the cookie expires and is deleted by the browser. A cookie without an expiry is a session cookie; one with a future expiry is a persistent cookie.
• Secure flag: when set, the browser only transmits the cookie over HTTPS connections, protecting it from interception in transit. All HeyMariner cookies carry the Secure flag.
• HttpOnly flag: when set, the cookie cannot be accessed by client-side JavaScript, reducing exposure to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. All HeyMariner session and authentication cookies carry the HttpOnly flag.
• SameSite attribute: controls whether the cookie is sent with cross-site requests. We use SameSite=Strict for authentication cookies and SameSite=Lax for preference cookies to balance security and functionality.

Similar Technologies

In addition to traditional browser cookies, the HeyMariner platform may make use of the following related client-side technologies, which are collectively referred to as “cookies” throughout this policy unless a specific distinction is necessary:

• Web Storage (localStorage and sessionStorage): HTML5 mechanisms for storing key-value pairs in the browser. We use localStorage to persist user interface preferences such as collapsed sidebar states and AIS layer visibility, and sessionStorage for transient per-tab data such as active search queries that should not persist beyond the browser tab.
• Web Beacons / Pixel Tags: tiny transparent images (typically 1×1 pixel) embedded in page content or emails. When your browser or email client loads the image, the request is logged, allowing the server to confirm that the page or email was viewed, record the timestamp, and capture the IP address and browser type of the requester.
• Fingerprinting resistance: HeyMariner does not use browser fingerprinting techniques (canvas fingerprinting, audio fingerprinting, or similar) as a substitute for cookies or as a means of tracking users who have declined cookie consent.
• Service Worker caching: we use Service Workers to cache static assets (scripts, stylesheets, chart tile images) for offline functionality in compatible browsers. Service Workers do not store personally identifiable data and are cleared when you clear your browser cache.

3. Types of Cookies We Use

HeyMariner organises cookies into five functional categories, aligned with the guidance of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) UK Cookie Guide and standard industry practice. Each category serves a distinct purpose, and — with the exception of strictly necessary cookies — requires your consent before being set.

3.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly necessary cookies are essential for you to browse and use the HeyMariner platform. They enable core functions such as page navigation, secure authenticated sessions, protection against cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and the storage of your cookie consent decision itself. Without these cookies, services you have asked for — such as logging into your account, accessing your saved vessel watchlists, or using features gated by subscription tier — cannot be provided.

Because strictly necessary cookies are required for the website to function, they do not require your prior consent under ePrivacy regulations. They cannot be disabled through our cookie preference centre, though you may disable them through your browser settings — doing so will prevent you from logging in and using authenticated features of the platform.

Our strictly necessary cookies include: the HeyMariner session token (hm_session), which keeps you logged in as you navigate between pages; the CSRF protection token (hm_csrf), which prevents attackers from hijacking your authenticated requests; the cookie consent record (hm_cookie_consent), which stores your preferences so you are not re-prompted; the subscription tier indicator (hm_sub_tier), which allows the platform to display the correct feature set for your account without a round-trip to the authentication server on every page load; and load balancer affinity cookies that ensure your requests are routed to the correct server during a session.

3.2 Performance and Analytics Cookies

Performance and analytics cookies collect information about how visitors interact with HeyMariner — which pages are most visited, how long visitors spend on each section, which search terms they enter, what vessel types they track most frequently, and from which countries or regions they access the platform. All data collected through analytics cookies is aggregated and anonymised; it is used exclusively to improve the platform and is not used to identify individual users or to build advertising profiles.

We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) as our primary analytics provider. GA4 cookies distinguish unique visitors and track engagement events such as vessel searches, port lookups, NAVAREA filter interactions, and time spent on the interactive chart viewer. We have configured GA4 with IP anonymisation enabled, meaning the final octet of your IP address is masked before storage, preventing identification of your precise geographic location.

We may also use Vercel Analytics — a privacy-preserving analytics solution built into our deployment infrastructure — to monitor page load performance, Core Web Vitals scores (Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, Interaction to Next Paint), and server-side response times. Vercel Analytics does not set persistent cookies; instead it uses aggregated, edge-processed metrics that do not involve individual user tracking.

The specific data points our analytics setup captures for maritime feature optimisation include: frequency of AIS track history requests (broken down by vessel type and flag state), usage rates of individual nautical calculators (passage time, fuel consumption, deadweight cargo calculator), NAVAREA subscription alert engagement rates, port comparison tool session durations, and vessel document library download counts. This data helps our editorial and technical teams prioritise which features to improve and which new content areas to develop.

3.3 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies enable enhanced personalisation and remember choices you make while browsing HeyMariner. They allow the platform to provide improved, more personal features that go beyond what is strictly necessary for basic navigation. Examples include remembering your interface language, storing your preferred units of measurement (nautical miles vs kilometres, knots vs km/h, metric vs imperial tonnage), saving your most recently viewed vessels and ports for easy re-access, and persisting your preferred map base layer (OpenStreetMap, satellite imagery, bathymetric, or Nautical chart overlay).

Functional cookies are particularly important for the professional mariner audience that HeyMariner serves. A Chief Engineer who regularly uses our fuel consumption calculator will want their preferred engine efficiency parameters saved between sessions. A port captain who regularly monitors berth congestion at several terminals will want their preferred port view saved as the default landing page. A flag state inspector who uses HeyMariner to cross-reference vessel certification data will want their search filter preferences retained.

Functional cookies set by HeyMariner include: display theme preference (light/dark mode); interface language selection; chosen unit system (nautical/metric/imperial); default map zoom level and centre coordinates; AIS layer toggle states (whether to display tankers, bulkers, container ships, fishing vessels, etc. by default); last-visited vessel profile and port profile (to populate “Recently Viewed” widgets); preferred calculator parameter sets; and notification display preferences (whether to show NAVAREA banners in-page or as toast notifications).

3.4 Targeting and Advertising Cookies

Targeting and advertising cookies are used to build a profile of your interests based on your browsing behaviour, and to display advertisements that are more relevant to you and your professional interests on HeyMariner and on third-party platforms. These cookies track your visits across different websites and build a picture of your browsing habits to enable advertisers to deliver relevant maritime industry advertising — for example, ship equipment suppliers, maritime training course providers, classification society services, or port agency services.

HeyMariner's advertising is targeted at maritime professionals and industry stakeholders. Our advertising partners include maritime industry specialists operating through platforms such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, and Google Display Network. Each of these platforms places their own cookies when their advertising scripts are loaded on HeyMariner pages, subject to your consent.

The Meta Pixel (cookie _fbp) tracks your visits to HeyMariner pages and allows us to run retargeting campaigns on Facebook and Instagram directed at users who have previously shown interest in maritime tools, vessel tracking, or port data. Similarly, the LinkedIn Insight Tag allows us to target maritime industry professionals on LinkedIn based on their interaction with our platform. These advertising cookies are only set after you explicitly consent to them in our cookie preference centre.

You may withdraw your consent to advertising cookies at any time through our cookie preference centre or through the opt-out mechanisms provided by the respective advertising platforms. Opting out of advertising cookies does not mean you will stop seeing advertisements on HeyMariner; it means the advertisements you see will be less tailored to your specific interests and browsing history.

3.5 Maritime-Specific Functional Cookies

HeyMariner operates features that have no parallel on a general-purpose website, and several of our functional cookies exist specifically to support maritime-domain workflows. These cookies store state that is meaningful only within a maritime professional context and which would be impractical or disruptive to re-enter on every session.

Saved Vessel Watchlist State: The cookie hm_watchlist_state stores the display state of your active vessel watchlist — specifically, which vessels are expanded to show full position details vs collapsed to show only the vessel name and flag state. This is distinct from the watchlist data itself (which is stored server-side in your account), and stores only presentational state to maintain a consistent interface between page refreshes.

Port Preferences: The cookie hm_port_prefs records your most recently viewed and most frequently visited port profiles, your preferred data columns in port comparison tables (e.g., whether to show max vessel draft, berth count, or port authority contact as the primary columns), and your preferred port database filter settings (e.g., minimum anchorage capacity, tide range, ice class requirements).

Route History: The cookie hm_route_hist stores the last five port-to-port route queries you entered into the HeyMariner passage planning tool, allowing you to quickly re-run a route calculation without re-entering waypoints. This history is also stored server-side when you are logged in; the cookie stores the same data locally to allow the “Recent Routes” widget to populate instantly without a server round-trip.

NAVAREA Subscription Preferences: The cookie hm_navarea_prefs stores your selected NAVAREA regions (out of NAVAREA I through NAVAREA XXI as defined by IMO and the WWNWS co-ordinator), your preferred alert severity filter (all warnings vs urgent navigational warnings only), and whether you have opted into in-browser push notifications for new NAVAREA publications. This allows your alert configuration to be applied immediately when you open the NAVAREA section, without waiting for your account preferences to be loaded from the server.

Calculator Settings: The cookie hm_calc_prefs stores your most recently used parameter sets for the HeyMariner nautical calculator suite. This includes fuel consumption calculator vessel parameters (displacement, service speed, SFOC), stability calculation base data, and passage planning speed/consumption profiles. Because mariners often apply the same vessel parameters repeatedly, persisting these settings between sessions saves significant data re-entry time.

4. First-Party vs Third-Party Cookies

Cookies can be classified not only by their purpose but also by their origin — that is, who sets them and who can read them.

First-Party Cookies

First-party cookies are set directly by HeyMariner (the heymariner.com domain) and can only be read by HeyMariner's own servers. All of our strictly necessary cookies, functional cookies, and maritime-specific functional cookies are first-party cookies. These are the cookies over which we have direct and complete control — we define their name, value, scope, expiry, and security attributes. We do not sell or transfer data collected through our first-party cookies to third parties for their own use.

Third-Party Cookies

Third-party cookies are set by domains other than heymariner.com, typically because we have embedded scripts or resources from those domains into our pages. The third party — not HeyMariner — controls the data collected through these cookies, how long they persist, and what they are used for. Their data practices are governed by their own privacy policies.

The third-party services that may set cookies on HeyMariner, contingent on your consent category selections, are:

• Google Analytics (analytics.google.com): sets the _ga, _ga_[ID], and _gid cookies to measure platform usage. Google's data is processed in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy and the Data Processing Agreement we maintain with Google as a GA4 customer. We have enabled IP anonymisation and have disabled Google Signals on our GA4 property to minimise data collection scope.
• Vercel Analytics: our hosting platform, Vercel, provides edge-level analytics that are primarily server-side and do not involve third-party cookies visible to your browser. Any Vercel-specific client-side measurement is governed by Vercel's privacy policy.
• Meta (Facebook/Instagram Pixel): sets the _fbp cookie and associated identifiers when you consent to advertising cookies. Meta's data processing is governed by Meta's Privacy Policy. You can manage your advertising preferences directly in your Facebook account settings.
• LinkedIn Insight Tag: sets the li_fat_id and related cookies when you consent to advertising cookies. LinkedIn's data practices are governed by LinkedIn's Privacy Policy. You can opt out of LinkedIn advertising through your LinkedIn account privacy settings.
• YouTube / Google Video: if you view embedded tutorial videos on HeyMariner (such as platform walkthroughs for new users), YouTube may set cookies related to video playback preferences and viewing history. We embed YouTube videos in “privacy-enhanced mode” (using the youtube-nocookie.com domain) where possible to limit tracking until you interact with the player.

We review our third-party integrations periodically and update this policy when new third-party cookies are introduced. The complete list of currently active cookies — including all third-party cookies — is provided in the Cookie List table in Section 11 of this policy.

5. Cookie Duration

Cookies are classified by their lifespan into two primary categories:

Session Cookies

Session cookies are temporary. They are stored in your browser's memory during a single browsing session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser (or tab, in some configurations). Session cookies do not persist to disk and therefore leave no trace on your device between sessions. On HeyMariner, session cookies are used for: the CSRF protection token; transient UI state such as which modal windows are currently open; and in-progress form data that should not persist between browser sessions.

Note that the definition of “session” varies slightly by browser. Some browsers with session-restore functionality (the ability to reopen previously open tabs after a crash or restart) may retain session cookies across browser restarts if the session-restore feature regards the session as still active.

Persistent Cookies

Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period defined by the cookie's Max-Age or Expires attribute, regardless of whether you close and reopen your browser. They are stored on disk and are sent to the server on subsequent visits to the website until their expiry date, or until you manually delete them. The specific retention periods for HeyMariner's persistent cookies are:

• hm_cookie_consent: 12 months — stores your consent decision for one year, after which you will be re-prompted to confirm your preferences.
• hm_sub_tier: 30 days — refreshed on each authenticated session. Stores your current subscription plan identifier.
• hm_prefs: 6 months — stores general interface preferences such as unit system and theme.
• hm_theme: 12 months — stores your chosen display theme (light/dark).
• hm_watchlist_state: 90 days — stores display state of your vessel watchlist panel.
• hm_port_prefs: 90 days — stores port database column preferences and filter settings.
• hm_route_hist: 30 days — stores your five most recent route queries.
• hm_navarea_prefs: 12 months — stores your NAVAREA regional subscriptions and alert filter preferences.
• hm_calc_prefs: 6 months — stores nautical calculator parameter presets.
• _ga (Google Analytics): 2 years — Google's standard retention period for the GA4 user identifier.
• _ga_[ID] (Google Analytics): 2 years — GA4 session container cookie.
• _gid (Google Analytics): 24 hours — used to distinguish users within a 24-hour window.
• _fbp (Meta Pixel): 90 days — Meta's standard browser identifier retention period.
• li_fat_id (LinkedIn): 30 days — LinkedIn's first-party advertising identifier.

All HeyMariner first-party persistent cookies expire according to the durations listed above. You can delete persistent cookies at any time through your browser's cookie management tools (see Section 8 for browser-specific instructions). Deleting cookies does not affect data already collected and processed; it only removes the cookie from your device going forward.

6. How Cookies Support Maritime Features

HeyMariner is not a generic content website. It is a specialist maritime intelligence platform designed to serve the operational and informational needs of maritime professionals. Several of our most important features depend on cookies to function correctly and efficiently. This section explains the role of cookies in specific maritime feature contexts.

AIS Tracking Sessions

When you use HeyMariner's live vessel tracking map, your authenticated session cookie (hm_session) authorises the real-time AIS data WebSocket connection that feeds vessel positions to your browser. Without this cookie, the server cannot validate that you are a subscribed user entitled to receive live AIS data streams, and the connection will be refused. The session cookie also controls the rate and resolution of AIS data delivered to your client based on your subscription tier, ensuring that the server applies the correct access privileges for each WebSocket update.

Chart Preferences

The HeyMariner chart viewer supports multiple base layer types — including standard OpenStreetMap tiles, bathymetric depth charts, traffic density heat maps, and ENC-style chart renderings — as well as numerous overlays (weather, wave height, current arrows, piracy incident markers, NAVAREA boundary polygons). Your chart layer selections, zoom level preferences, and overlay toggle states are persisted using hm_prefs and localStorage, meaning that when you return to the chart viewer, you see your preferred view immediately rather than starting from a default global view that must be manually configured each time.

NAVAREA Alert Subscriptions

The World-Wide Navigational Warning Service (WWNWS) divides the world's oceans into 21 NAVAREAs, each co-ordinated by a designated national hydrographic authority. HeyMariner aggregates NAVAREA warnings published across all 21 regions and allows users to subscribe to specific regions, vessel route corridors, or port proximity alerts. Your NAVAREA subscription preferences are stored in the hm_navarea_prefs cookie, which allows the platform to pre-filter the NAVAREA warnings display to your areas of interest the moment the page loads, without waiting for a server-side personalisation call.

Calculator Settings

HeyMariner's nautical calculator suite includes tools for passage time estimation, fuel consumption modelling, deadweight cargo calculations, stability approximations, tidal height predictions, and unit conversions. Maritime professionals who use these tools regularly for specific vessels — for example, a fleet manager calculating fuel consumption for a series of identical bulk carriers — benefit from having their vessel parameters and input presets saved between sessions. The hm_calc_prefs cookie stores up to five named calculation presets per calculator tool, allowing immediate reuse without manual data re-entry.

Port and Vessel History

The “Recently Viewed” widgets on the HeyMariner dashboard display the last five vessel profiles and last five port profiles you visited, enabling quick re-access to frequently consulted records. These recently viewed lists are stored both server-side (for logged-in users) and locally via the hm_port_prefs and hm_watchlist_state cookies. The local storage allows the “Recently Viewed” widgets to render instantly on page load as a populated list — rather than showing a loading spinner while awaiting a server response — significantly improving the perceived performance of the dashboard for returning users.

7. Managing Your Cookie Preferences

HeyMariner provides several mechanisms for you to control, update, or withdraw your cookie consent at any time. Your preference choices are entirely voluntary (except for strictly necessary cookies, which cannot be declined without impairing the service), and changing your preferences at any time does not affect the lawfulness of any processing that occurred before you changed them.

Cookie Preference Centre

The HeyMariner Cookie Preference Centre is accessible at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in the footer of any page on our platform. Within the Preference Centre you can:

• View a description of each cookie category and the specific cookies active within that category.
• Toggle on or off each non-essential cookie category (analytics, functional, advertising/targeting).
• Accept all cookies with a single click.
• Accept only strictly necessary cookies with a single click.
• Save a customised combination of category selections.
• View the date and timestamp of your most recent consent decision.

When you update your preferences, the change takes effect immediately. Cookies belonging to categories you have deselected will be deleted from your browser within seconds, and scripts that would set those cookies will be blocked from loading until you re-enable the relevant category.

Google Analytics Opt-Out

In addition to using our Preference Centre to disable analytics cookies, you can prevent Google Analytics from collecting any data about your visits across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. This add-on is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera.

Advertising Opt-Out

To opt out of interest-based advertising via Meta, visit your Facebook or Instagram account's Ad Preferences page. To opt out via LinkedIn, visit your LinkedIn account's Advertising Data settings. For broader interest-based advertising opt-out across multiple platforms, you can use the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out tool at optout.aboutads.info or the European equivalent at youronlinechoices.com.

8. Browser Cookie Settings

Every major browser provides built-in tools for viewing, blocking, and deleting cookies. Below are step-by-step instructions for the most commonly used browsers as of the date of this policy. Browser interfaces change with software updates; if the steps below do not match your current browser version, consult the help documentation for your specific version.

Google Chrome

1. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the browser window.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Privacy and security in the left sidebar.
4. Click Cookies and other site data.
5. Choose your preferred cookie setting: “Allow all cookies,” “Block third-party cookies in Incognito,” “Block third-party cookies,” or “Block all cookies.”
6. To delete existing cookies: click See all cookies and site data, search for “heymariner.com,” and click the trash icon next to any cookie you wish to delete.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Click the hamburger menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Privacy & Security in the left panel.
4. Under “Enhanced Tracking Protection,” choose your preferred level: Standard, Strict, or Custom.
5. To delete cookies: scroll to “Cookies and Site Data” and click Manage Data. Search for “heymariner.com” and remove any listed cookies.
6. Alternatively, click Clear Data to remove all stored cookies and site data.

Apple Safari (macOS)

1. Click Safari in the top menu bar and select Settings (or Preferences in older versions).
2. Click the Privacy tab.
3. Check or uncheck Prevent cross-site tracking as preferred.
4. To manage cookies, click Manage Website Data. Search for “heymariner” and click Remove to delete our cookies.
5. To block all cookies, check Block all cookies. Note: this will prevent login on HeyMariner.

Apple Safari (iOS / iPadOS)

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap Safari.
3. Under “Privacy & Security,” toggle Prevent Cross-Site Tracking on or off.
4. To delete all website data (including cookies): tap Advanced, then Website Data, and tap Remove All Website Data.

Microsoft Edge

1. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and select Settings.
2. Click Cookies and site permissions in the left sidebar.
3. Click Manage and delete cookies and site data.
4. Toggle Block third-party cookies on or off as preferred.
5. To delete specific cookies: click See all cookies and site data, search for “heymariner.com,” and click the trash icon.

Opera

1. Click the Opera logo in the top-left corner and select Settings.
2. Click Advanced in the left panel, then Privacy & security.
3. Click Site Settings, then Cookies and site data.
4. Adjust your cookie blocking preferences as desired.
5. To view and delete individual cookies, click See all cookies and site data and search for “heymariner.com.”

9. Impact of Disabling Cookies on Maritime Features

Disabling cookies — particularly strictly necessary cookies — will have a material impact on your ability to use HeyMariner. The specific impacts depend on which category of cookies you disable:

Disabling Strictly Necessary Cookies

If you block strictly necessary cookies through your browser settings, you will be unable to log into your HeyMariner account. This means you will not be able to access: your saved vessel watchlists; your account settings and subscription management; personalised NAVAREA alert subscriptions; saved calculator presets; your reading history and bookmarked articles; or any premium or subscriber-gated features. You will still be able to browse publicly available content such as editorial articles, port information previews, and the publicly viewable vessel search — but the depth of data and features will be significantly limited compared to an authenticated session.

Disabling Analytics Cookies

Disabling analytics cookies (Google Analytics, Vercel Analytics) has no impact on your ability to use any HeyMariner feature. You will experience the platform identically to a user who has accepted analytics cookies. The only consequence is that your usage patterns are not included in the aggregated data we use to improve the platform. We respect and honour analytics cookie opt-outs without any reduction in service quality.

Disabling Functional Cookies

Disabling functional cookies will mean that your personal preferences — theme, unit system, language, map layer selections, NAVAREA filter settings, calculator presets — will not be remembered between browser sessions. You can still use all features, but you will need to re-configure your interface preferences each time you start a new session. Recently Viewed vessel and port widgets will not populate automatically on page load.

Disabling Targeting / Advertising Cookies

Disabling advertising cookies will mean that advertisements displayed on HeyMariner are not personalised to your interests or browsing history. You will still see advertisements from our maritime industry advertising partners, but they will be contextually targeted (based on the current page content) rather than behaviourally targeted (based on your overall browsing patterns). Disabling advertising cookies also prevents Meta and LinkedIn from building a profile of your visits to HeyMariner for their own retargeting systems.

10. Do Not Track Signals

Some browsers transmit a “Do Not Track” (DNT) signal — a preference header included in HTTP requests — to indicate that the user does not wish to be tracked across websites. The DNT signal was developed by the W3C Tracking Preference Expression working group as a voluntary mechanism for users to communicate a tracking preference to web servers.

At present, there is no universally agreed industry standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and the Do Not Track working group was closed without producing a finalized specification. As a result, HeyMariner does not currently alter its cookie behaviour in response to DNT signals. We believe this is more transparent than claiming DNT compliance when the standard itself is not finalised.

However, we provide robust consent management tools through our Cookie Preference Centre (described in Section 7), which give you direct, granular control over the categories of cookies you accept. We believe this provides a more meaningful and reliable mechanism for expressing your tracking preferences than the DNT signal, which relies on voluntary adoption by websites and has no enforcement mechanism.

We will continue to monitor developments in this space, including the Global Privacy Control (GPC) standard, which is gaining regulatory recognition in certain jurisdictions (notably California under the CCPA/CPRA). If GPC becomes widely adopted and legally significant in jurisdictions relevant to HeyMariner's user base, we will update our systems to honour GPC signals and update this policy accordingly.

11. Cookie List

The table below provides a complete list of all cookies currently active on the HeyMariner platform, organised by category. This list is reviewed and updated whenever new cookies are added or existing cookies are removed. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this policy reflects the most recent review of this list.

12. Mobile App Cookies and Device Identifiers

The HeyMariner platform is a Progressive Web Application (PWA) optimised for use on mobile devices through browsers, and may also be available as a native mobile application in the future. This section describes how cookie-like technologies operate in mobile and app contexts.

Mobile Browser Use

When you access HeyMariner through a mobile browser (such as Safari on iOS, Chrome on Android, or Firefox for Android), the same cookie categories and specific cookies described in this policy apply. Mobile browsers handle cookies using the same technical specifications as desktop browsers, though the user interface for managing cookies differs between browser apps. The instructions in Section 8 for Safari on iOS apply to mobile Safari; for other mobile browsers, consult the specific browser app's help documentation.

Progressive Web App (PWA) Storage

When you install HeyMariner as a PWA on your home screen, the application may use the browser's Cache API and IndexedDB storage in addition to cookies. These mechanisms allow the PWA to function partially offline — for example, to display your cached vessel watchlist or the most recently loaded port data while connectivity is limited. Cache API and IndexedDB data is managed through your browser's site data settings (the same location where you manage cookies), and can be cleared in the same way.

Device Identifiers and Mobile Advertising

If HeyMariner is made available as a native mobile application (iOS or Android), device-level advertising identifiers — specifically the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) on iOS and the Google Advertising ID (GAID) on Android — may be used in place of or in addition to browser cookies for analytics and advertising measurement purposes. These identifiers serve a similar function to advertising cookies in a browser context.

On iOS devices running iOS 14.5 or later, Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework requires that any app accessing the IDFA must first request explicit user permission via a standardised permission prompt. HeyMariner will honour this requirement; if you decline tracking permission, we will not access your IDFA and will rely only on non-identifiable aggregated analytics.

On Android devices, you can reset or opt out of advertising ID tracking through Settings > Google > Ads > “Delete advertising ID” or “Opt out of Ads Personalization.” This will prevent advertising-related use of the GAID by HeyMariner and all other apps on your device. This policy will be updated with specific native app cookie and device identifier information when a native mobile application is released.

13. Updates to Cookie Policy

We review and update this Cookie Policy periodically to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes in applicable privacy law and regulatory guidance, platform feature additions that introduce new cookies, changes in third-party services integrated with HeyMariner, and best practice developments in cookie consent management.

When we make material changes to this policy — for example, adding a new category of cookies, introducing a new third-party analytics or advertising partner, or changing the retention period of existing cookies — we will:

• Update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.
• Display a notification banner on the HeyMariner platform informing users of the updated policy.
• Where the changes materially affect how we use cookies that require consent, reset the cookie consent banner so that users have the opportunity to review the new categories and re-confirm or update their preferences.
• Where we have your email address on file and the changes are significant, send a notice by email.

Continuing to use HeyMariner after a policy update has been brought to your attention via the notification banner constitutes acceptance of the updated policy with respect to strictly necessary cookies. Non-essential cookies added by the update will only be set after you have actively confirmed your preferences in the updated consent banner.

Previous versions of this Cookie Policy are available on request by contacting us at the address in Section 14. We maintain an internal change log tracking the date and nature of each policy revision.

14. Contact Information

If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, wish to request a copy of a previous version, need assistance with managing your cookie preferences, or have any concern about how HeyMariner uses cookies, please contact us using any of the following methods:

We aim to respond to all cookie-related inquiries within five business days. For data protection or privacy inquiries more broadly, please also refer to our Privacy Policy.